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Series Of Bombs Rocks 4 Cities

Kashmir Car Explosion Kills 8

December 26, 2000|By From Tribune News Services.

PAKISTAN, INDIA — Bombs went off in four Pakistani cities Monday, including a powerful blast that ripped through a crowded market in the eastern border city of Lahore, police said. Some 45 people were injured.

Meanwhile, in the Indian-controlled portion of Kashmir--the Himalayan territory disputed between India and Pakistan--a car bomb went off outside army headquarters Monday, killing eight people and wounding 23 others. India blamed Islamic militants for the attack.

A Pakistan-based rebel group called the Jamaat-ul Mujahedeen claimed responsibility for the Kashmir explosion. in telephone calls to local newspapers. Within hours, a spokesman for the Jaish-e-Mohammad, another guerrilla group, also claimed it had carried out the attack.

In Pakistan, the first bomb ripped through a crowded market in the eastern border city of Lahore, injuring 36 people, while the second bomb exploded at a railway station in Faisalabad, also in eastern Punjab province, wounding three people, according to reports.

Six people were injured in an explosion on a passenger bus in Hyderabad in the southern Sindh province. A blast in Kharian, 70 miles north of Lahore, did not cause any injuries.